Desperadoes: The Rise & Fall of the Poe-Hart Gang

Key Information

In the months prior to America’s involvement in the First World War there came charging out of the West an organized band of cutthroats dubbed the Poe-Hart Gang. This notorious group of outlaws cut a swath of robbery, murder, and wholesale theft not seen on the frontier since the arrival of the infamous Dalton Brothers.

This is the story of that lawless band of renegades and how they made the transition from horse to automobile.

The Contents

Preface ii

Chapter 1: Beginnings, 1

Chapter 2: Horse Thieves, 13

Chapter 3: Stand and Deliver, 33

Chapter 4: Shootout at the Big Blue, 47

Chapter 5: The Manhunt, 55

Chapter 6: Ambush at Nuyaka, 69

Chapter 7: Sooner Justice, 87

Chapter 8: Uncle Jim, 103

Epilogue, 109

Bibliography, 114

The Author

R. D. Morgan is a native of the frozen cornfields of the north. He shook the ice off his nose and joined the US Army immediately after graduating from high school, serving as a Military Police officer. After his military career, he worked several years for the federal government as an electrician in Arkansas and Missouri. Two years ago, Morgan and his wife took an early retirement and moved to Oklahoma to pursue their passion of researching and photographing people, places, and stories pertaining to 1920s and ’30s history. The author got a passion from listening to his Grandfather’s tales about life and culture in the Midwest during the depression years. A year ago, the couple began writing a popular weekly column in the Haskell News on Oklahoma history. While doing research for their column, they discovered the story of the Cookson Hills gang. Realizing the story of neither the outlaws nor the lawmen’s exploits had ever fully been told they tackled the job. This book is the result of that project. The Morgans are currently active members of Oklahombres, an organization dedicated to the preservation of Oklahoma lawmen and outlaw history. They have had their stories published in the Oklahombres Journal, Okmulgee Daily Times, and the quarterly journal of Three Rivers Museum in Muskogee, Oklahoma.